The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-04-28

Il Ez
There comes upon the good man deluge
of financial troubles. He had his thou
sands to lenc zow he can not borrow a
dollar He once ownedsa store in New
York, and had branch houses in Boston,
Philadelphia and New Orleans He owned
four horses, ana employed man tokeep
the dust off his coach, phaeton, carriage
and curricle; now he has hard work to
| get shoes IN which to walk. The great
| deep of commercial disaster was broken
up, and fore and aft, and across the hurri-
/ cane deck, the waves struck him. But he
was safely sheltered from the storm.
| The Lord shut him IN.
A flood of domestic troubles fell on him.
| Sickness and bereavement came. The
rain peited. The winds blew. The Heav-
ers are afame.S All the gardens of earth
ly delight are washed away. The fount-
aims of joy are buried fifteen cubits deep.
| But, standing by the empty crib, and in
the desolated nursery, and IN the doleful
hall, once a-ring with merry voices, now
| silent forever, he cried:
The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord.
| The Lord shut him in.
| All the sins of lifetime clamorcd for
| his overthrow. The broken vows, the dis
honest Sabbaths the outrageous profani-
| ties, the misdemeanors of twenty
years, reached up their hands to
the door of the ak to pull him out.
The boundless ocean of his sin sur
rounded his soul, bowling like simeon,
raving like an euroclydoa. But, looking
out of the window, he saw his sins sink
like lead into the sea. The dove of Heav-
en- brought an olive branch to the ark
The wrath of the billow only pushed hi m
toward Heaven
| The Lord shut him in.
! = The same door-fas Jennings that kept
Noah in keep the world out. ! am glad to
| know that when a man reaches Heaven all
earthly troubles are done with him. Here
he may have had it hard to get bread for
his family; there he will never hunger an y
more: Here he may have wept bitterly;
| there
The lamb that isin the midst of the throne
viii lead him to living fountains OF water, and
God will wipe away all tears from his eyes.
Here he may have hard work to get a
| house; but in my fathers house are many
! mansions, and rent day never comes. Here
there are death-beds, and collins, and
| graves; there no sickness, no weary watch
| ing, no choking cough, no consuming
fever, no chattering chill, no tolling bell,
| no grave The sorrows of life shall come
| up and knock at the door, but no admit
tance. The perplexities of life shall come
up and knock on the door, but no admit
| lance. Safe foreverl All the agony of
| earth in one wave d sshing against the
| bulwarks of the ship of celestial light
lIshall not break them down. Howl on, ye
| winds, and rage, We seasl
| The Lord shut him in. = fHfs
| Now, if the ark of Christ is so grand a
place In which to live, and die, and
| triumph, come into the ark Know we'll
that the door that shut Noah in shut the
| world out; and though, when the pitiiess
storm came pelting on their heads, they
beat upon the door, saying, ''Let me in!
let me imp the door did not open. For
| one hundred and twenty years they were
| invited. They expected to come in; but
the antediluvians said:
| 1--WE must cultivate these fields: we
| must be worth more aocks of sheep and
| herds of cattle; we will wait until we get
| little older; we will enjoy our old farm
little longer" a,f ~
But meanwhile the storm was brewing.
| The fountains Of heaven wore filling up
The pry was being placed beneath the
| foundations of the great deep. The last
|
| week, the last day, the last hour, the last
| moment. In an awful dash, an ocean
| dropped from the sky, and another rolled
| up from beneath; and God rolled the
earth and sky into one wave of universal
| destruction.
SO men now put off going into the ark
| They say they will wait twenty years
hrst. They will have a little longer time
with their worldly associates They will
| wait until they get older. They say:
"You can not expect man of my at
talnments and of my position to surrender
myself just now. But before the storm
comes l willgoin. Yes, / will. 1 know
what am about. Trust me.'
After awhile, one night about twelve
O'Clock, going home he passes a scaffold-
ing as gust of wind strikes it, and a
plank falls. Deadl and outside the ark
Or, riding in the park reckless vehicle
| crashes into him, and his horse becomes
t'unmanageable, and he shouts ssWhoa,
whoa, Ne and takes another twist IN the
| relns, and plants his feet against the
das board, and pulls back. But no USE
1T is notso much down the avenue that he
flies as on the way to eternity Out of the
wreck OF the crash his body is
drawn, but his soul is not
PASHou uP. " kA0u Uoulul SWlIU-
er courser into the great future. Dead
| and outside the arkl Or, some night, he
wakes up with distress that momentari-
ly increases, until he shriexs out with
pain. The doctors come in, and they give
him twenty drops, but no relief; forty
drops, fifty drops, sixty drops, but no re-
lief, No time for prayer No time to read
| one OF the promises. No time to get a
single sin pardoned The whole house is
| aroused in alarm. The children scream
The wife faints.y The pulses fall The
heart stops. The soul flies Oh! my
God dead! and outside the arkl
| have no doubt that derision kept many
people out of the ark. The world laughed
to see man go in, and said:
Here IS a man starting for the ark
! Why, there will be no deluge. If there is
| one, that miserable ship will not weather
1T. Aha! going into the arki Well, that
is too good to keep. Here, fellows, have
you heard the newsa This man is going
into the ark"
4 Under this artillery of scorn the mans
good resolution perished VI ~
| And so there are hundreds kept out bv
the fear of derislon. The young man asks
| himselfi
tsWhat would thav COW OF 4ba ,+o,o =.